The Adventures Of Tintin 3D (Blu-ray) Official AVSForum Review

( Max score: 100 )

87

Film Synopsis:

From Academy Award® -winning filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson comes the epic adventures of Tintin. Racing to uncover the secrets of a sunken ship that may hold a vast fortune -- but also an ancient curse -- Tintin and his loyal dog Snowy embark on an action-packed journey around the world.

My Take:

Prior to seeing The adventures of Tintin I knew little about the popular character other than recognizing his likeness. For those like me here is some background borrowed from Wikipedia:

The Adventures of Tintin (French: Les Aventures de Tintin) is a series of comic albums created by Belgian artist Georges Remi (1907-1983), who wrote under the pen name of Hergé. The series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in more than 50 languages and more than 200 million copies of the books sold to date.

The series first appeared in French in Le Petit Vingtième, a children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le XXe Siècle on 10 January 1929. The success of the series saw the serialised strips published in Belgium's leading newspaper Le Soir and spun into a successful Tintin magazine. Then in 1950, Hergé created Studios Hergé, which produced the canon series of twenty-four albums. The Adventures of Tintin have been adapted for radio, television, theatre, and film.

Set during a largely realistic 20th century, the hero of the series is Tintin, a young Belgian reporter. He is aided in his adventures by his faithful fox terrier dog Snowy (Milou in French). Later, popular additions to the cast included the brash and cynical Captain Haddock, the highly intelligent but hearing-impaired Professor Calculus (Professeur Tournesol) and other supporting characters such as the incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson (Dupont et Dupond). Hergé himself features in several of the comics as a background character, as do his assistants in some instances.

The comic strip series has long been admired for its clean, expressive drawings in Hergé's signature ligne claire style. Its engaging, well-researched plots straddle a variety of genres: swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, and science fiction. The stories within the Tintin series always feature slapstick humour, offset in later albums by dashes of sophisticated satire and political/cultural commentary.

Based on the Adventures of Tintin and the secret of the Unicorn, I found The Adventures of Tintin to be an entertaining film that seems to capture the essence of the popular book series both conceptually and artistically. The first act moves a bit slowly as it sets up the story but by act two things are moving along and I found myself engrossed. I liked the action/adventure combined with elements of mystery and light humor/slapstick. I agree with the filmmaker's decision not to attempt to introduce a back story on Tintin. This was something that wasn't done in the books and wouldn't have added anything legitimate to the storyline. Even though I wasn't previously familiar with Tintin It took only the first few minutes of the film to figure out that he was an investigative reporter, a bit of a sleuth and relies on his constant companion/partner Snowy the dog. Later we see that he can handle himself and that he has a penchant for seeing things through. The film is animated with the performances by the cast using motion-capture. Stars Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis do an incredible job with Daniel Craig capably handling the role of the villain. As you might expect from Steven Spielberg this is a well executed production that is complimented by the superb music of the great John Williams. Things end on an open note that sets up what could be the next adventure for Tintin and company. I look forward to seeing more of him.

Parental Guide:

The rating is for adventure action violence some drunkenness and brief smoking.

Audio: 88

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3D Presentation: 86

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The adventures of Tintin 3D comes to Blu-ray Disc from Paramount featuring 1080p MVC encoded video and lossless DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio sound that has an average bitrate of 4.8 Mbps.

I much prefer to view 3D that takes advantage of the depth and dimension that can bring images onscreen to life in a visually involving and natural way. This is a nicely balanced presentation that features excellent onscreen dimensional correlation. There isn't a consistent array of pop out of the screen effects but there are instances where objects extended beyond the screen to create a virtual sense of dimensionality. Textures abound as the richness of the beautifully crafted animated images are incredibly nuanced regardless of their placement within the frame. Fidelity is intact as the film's gorgeous color, rich contrast and defining blacks are beautifully rendered and natural. Comparing this to the 2D version in terms of the rendering of detail, color reproduction and contrast I found them to be identical. This may not be an effects laden spectacle however I found it to be a rewarding and fun 3D experience.

The DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack makes regular use of the surround platform and offers detail rich sonic clarity, crystalline dialogue and robust bass response. This 7.1 channel mix doesn't bombard you with aggressive surround sound but applies it when appropriate and combines discretely placed directional cues with rear channel ambience that fills the listening area nicely. The swashbuckling flashback sequence aboard the Unicorn is a great example of this. The front and rear sound field's never collide but work in unison to render the soundtrack with precise imaging and involving acoustic placement. Dynamic's are excellent but not up to the level of the best lossless sound that I have heard. This is a well rounded audio presentation that mates well with the source material and sounds great.

2D Video Quality:

Video: 94

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The adventures of Tintin comes to Blu-ray Disc from Paramount Home Entertainment featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 32 Mbps

This is a pristine and reference quality high definition presentation from Paramount. The video quality is visually arresting in its depiction of the film's animated subjects. Detail and definition is impeccably rendered as images have a luminous and sparkling clarity that is appreciably dimensional. Fine degrees of subtle delineation and texture are clearly discernible. The attention to detail in the construction of the animated characters physical features as well as objects within each frame is superb. Colors are richly saturated, vibrant and beautifully rendered. Primaries are particularly vivid and exhibit visibly delineated stages that bring out subtle degrees of separation. Contrast is spot on as blacks are rich with deep highlights, whites and grays exhibit multi-layered depth and refined detail that give them excellent dimension.

Bonus Features:

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  Disc 1:

  
  
• 3D Blu-ray - The adventures of Tintin
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  Disc 2:

  
  
• 2D Blu-ray - The adventures of Tintin (plus the following bonus features):
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• (HD) Toasting Tintin part 1
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• (HD) The journey to Tintin - 9 minute featurette
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• (HD) The world of Tintin - 10 minute featurette
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• (HD) The who's who of Tintin - 14 minute featurette
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• (HD) Tintin: Conceptual design - 8 minute featurette
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• (HD) Tintin: In the volume - 18 minute featurette
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• (HD) Snowy: From beginning to end 10 minute featurette
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• (HD) Animating Tintin - 11 minute featurette
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• (HD) Tintin the score - 7 minute featurette
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• (HD) Collecting Tintin - 4 minute featurette
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• (HD) Toasting Tintin part 2
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• BD-Live
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  Disc 3:

  
  
• Bonus DVD - The adventures of Tintin
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• Ultraviolet Digital Copy

Final Thoughts:

Based on the popular book series by Herge The adventures of Tintin is an entertaining film that seems to artistically and conceptually capture the essence of the character and his adventures via a well crafted/executed Steven Spielberg production that features a well placed cast and marvelous music score by John Williams. This three disc Blu-ray package from Paramount Home Entertainment includes the feature film in high definition in both 3D and 2D flavors with each offering resplendent video quality and involving DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound. The supplemental features are typical but worthwhile and include an in-depth look behind the scenes as well as a standard definition DVD of the film and Ultraviolet Digital copy. I had a good time with The Adventures of Tintin. If you enjoy its type of animated film entertainment its well worth a look.